There are all kinds of
new beginnings in the Bible. The very first one is found in Genesis 1:1. Many
Bible scholars feel a judgment had taken place between verses 1 and 2, thereby
making verse 2 the second new beginning of the creation of heaven and earth. Dr.
C. I. Scofield even lists several Scriptures as references to this in his
commentary in the King James Bible. Other scholars have a different explanation, or none at all.

I remember as a teenager
reading those two verses, and feeling a bit confused.
First, there was the heaven and earth, and then there wasn’t!

Nevertheless, there was,
at least,
the very first new beginning...the creation of all things. Later in Genesis, there is another new beginning
for the earth, and mankind…right after Noah’s flood. And, of course, a final new
beginning in the book of the Revelation, for the planet, the heavens and
mankind. There is even a new beginning for the entire Godhead.

The Bible tells of new
beginnings for individuals. The Old Testament speaks of encounters with God
changing the course of lives…people are not the same…they turn around and walk
in the opposite direction. That is the meaning of the word repentance, by the
way. Abraham, Moses, David, Gideon, Ruth, Esther, Rahab, and Job, just to name a
few, experienced that glorious encounter.

The New Testament speaks
of so many having a new beginning after meeting Jesus. Every disciple except
one, called by Christ; the apostle Paul; Mary of Magdala; the demoniac of Gadara,
and on and on. Once we have an encounter with the God of the universe, in any
form, be it the Father in the Old Testament, the Son in the New Testament, or
the
Holy Ghost in the Church age, we are never the same again.

Millions have been saved
(changed) since the beginning, and now in this last church age, thousands are
being saved everyday. With our modern means of communication, the Gospel is
already being preached around the world, fulfilling the great commission that
Christ gave the Church in Matthew 28.

So what is there left to
do? The very first thing we must do is prepare for the coming of Christ. Besides
the evangelists who have a passion for souls, and the faithful and few
missionaries, mostly in foreign lands, the main Body of Christ called the Bride,
or the inner body of believers, in EVERY Christian church, also called the
over-comers, are not ready; we have NOT overcome, especially here in America. It
seems our enemies…the world, the flesh and the devil, win too often.

We have churches on every
corner and the Gospel is broadcast on TV and radio, and even the internet 24/7.
The table is full yet the Body is in starvation in our own land. And why is
that? Because we have little appetite for God. We are rich by most of the
world’s standards and feel we have no need for God, (Matthew 19:24).

Most people who DO go to
church, only go on Sunday morning. Once a week is all they have a tolerance for
and that is mostly out of duty. The rest of the week, they barely think of God.
Some will say a prayer at the dinner table, or a bedtime prayer, but the rest of
the time it is business as usual.

Many Christians get good
works confused with being "rapture ready". If that would be the case, Jesus died
for nothing. There are millions of volunteers doing a lot of good works all over
the world, but that doesn’t replace knowing JESUS.

There is a belief that
has been around for a long time, that if you are a believer in Jesus, you will
automatically go up in the Rapture. For those that do not know, the term rapture
is only found in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. It means catching
away, or being caught up. It refers to that day when Christ appears in the sky
and calls His Bride to Heaven. It is an invisible event seen only by those who
are going. However, just being born again and living any way you please, and
still go up in that great catching away, is a false belief.

The Word says only those
who are watching and waiting for His coming, are the ones who are going. If we
are watching and waiting everyday, then our life is a whole lot different than
the lives of most Sunday morning Christians. It impacts everything we do and everything we
say. It changes our life and life style, because our thinking is changed.

We must daily wash our
minds with God's Word, as we would daily wash our bodies. If we don't, then we
end up with "stinking thinking", as
Joyce Meyer calls it. We are by our Adamic nature, carnal minded. Yet, Jesus
said we have the mind of Christ! We just don’t appropriate it! The Word also
tells us, "As a man thinks, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).

In our Thursday night
Bible study, we learned about the Seven Churches which also represents the Seven
church ages. Make no mistake…we are in the LAST church age. We have been
studying Bible prophecy, and all the pre-rapture signs we found, have already
been fulfilled…in fact, 85% of all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled IN OUR
LIFETIME!

As of now, the
Church is not ready for Christ’s return. If Jesus comes for us this week, all
the church parking lots will still have most of the same cars in them next
Sunday, that were there this Sunday, including the Pastors'!

I cannot imagine how the
disappearance of all the world’s young children will be explained, unless they
say UFO’S have taken them! Once again, Rachel will be weeping for her children
and will not be comforted, (Matthew 2:18).

Not long after the Bride
leaves, the world leader (or government) comes on the scene. He will sign a
peace treaty and bring peace to the Middle East. He will play nice during the
first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation Period.

These same lukewarm
Christians (and Jews) will continue to do their duty and go to their lukewarm
churches, for the first 31/2 years while the Bride is in Heaven getting her
rewards, and partaking of the marriage supper of the Lamb.

When the Anti-Christ sits
himself down on the mercy seat in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, half-way
through the Tribulation period, and declares
himself to be God, then all Hell breaks loose, against the Jews. You can read
about it in Matthew 24.

Meanwhile, the lukewarm
Christians will also be in trouble. They will be told they must take a mark in
their hand or forehead if they want to buy or sell, or get food or any basic
needs of life. Perhaps this mark will be on the order of the grocery store bar
code, and can be scanned and tracked like an Onstar type thing. Obviously, we
are already set up for it; not only with these technologies, but most of the
countries of the world are now 90% cashless societies.

Some left-behind
Christians will remember from their church teaching, that taking the mark means
eternal doom, and refuse. That means those who did not live for the Lord before
the Rapture, will now have to die for the Lord during the Tribulation. These are
the martyrs that the Revelation refers to that comes up out of the Great
Tribulation. The rest will have headed for the hills and manage to live off the
land, in constant hiding.

This is too awful to
contemplate…therefore we must get ready now.

Many churches have been in transition for a long time, and it has not
necessarily been for
the good. Most of us have not seen much of the power of God in action in the past 40
years. In Bible numerology, the number 40 is a number meaning testing. All of
our programs, sales-pitch sermons, and various enticements designed in the
hearts of men for church growth, have not been a substitute for the movement of
the Holy Spirit, when bidden to come in by unified, repentant, and hungry
hearts.

The number 7 in Biblical
numerology means perfect or full as in satiety, not able to hold anymore. I
think most of us are finally fed up with going through the motions of
worship, when the glory of God is not in our midst.

The number 8 represents a new beginning. I
believe it is a new day for the Church, in 2008.

The Psalmist says in Ps. 98:1 “Sing a new song
unto the Lord for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm
has gotten Him the victory”.

It is time we sing a new song. We have passed
through our 40 years of a mourning period. Our night will turn to day. Tears are shed in the
night but joy comes in the morning. It is time to move forward. Paul said to
forget those things which are behind and press on toward our high calling of
God. The old things and ways have passed away, and now all things are become
new.

It is time for the whole army of God to march on
and move forward. We are the ones who will take the land for Christ, and that
includes Hometown, USA.

We must get ready for that assignment. We must
pray for a hunger for God and His revelation to us as a church. Firstly, we need
the prayer teams in place. Then we need the praise teams in place, as it was in
the tabernacle.

Outside the church/school in Texas, where I was
trained in the 1960's, was a sign over the door…"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His
courts with praise”. People did their visiting outside. When they came into the
sanctuary, everyone was kneeling in their pews or at the altar, in whispered
prayer.

There was a Holy hush in
the house and an air of expectancy. The people came on assignment…they prayed
until the Holy Ghost came in, and the services were wondrous. We saw miracles
and healings in just about every
service, and they were a Spiritual manifestation that came out of heartfelt
worship. Those folks had developed a RELATIONSHIP with God!
Even our various ministries are but an overflow of our relationship with
God! Selah (pause and meditate on that).

The church house was
always full and it was just a plain wood frame church with hard pews…people
always sat in the same place, and left their personal cushions in their seat, to kneel or sit
upon.

Neither were
there any external trappings to attract
people. No dinners, socials, programs, or even Vacation Bible School.
There was nothing extra offered but the plain Gospel taught twice daily and
folks that knew how to pray and praise God. The teenagers, and even the young
kids knew
how to preach, sing and pray, and were filled with a passion for Christ.

Those early Methodists in
that town, were on fire for God. Later, all denominations came for training. Missionaries were sent out all over the
world from that obscure training center, and their work has gone on since the
1940’s.

This kind of church starts within the individual
hearts of the people, for we ARE the church. We should be asking ourselves “If
not us, then WHO? If not now, then WHEN”?

David said he meditated on the word day and
night…so that means we give God our first fruits of the morning and our last
conversation at night.

To meditate on the Word
is not just reading it...to meditate means to "chew on it"... to THINK about
what we read. David said “Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against you”. The memorized Word keeps us and even the little children from
sin. ESPECIALLY the little children!

When the Word is in us,
we treat people differently…we esteem the other person higher than ourselves. We
show respect for our leaders and the elders of the Body, and for the Lord’s house. It is just getting back to the milk of the
Word, to basic Christianity!

Gathering around the
altar to pray before
services, is a reasonable thing to do. As a group, we are inviting the Holy
Spirit into our midst. Without His presence and anointing, pastors can do nothing
behind the pulpit, anyway. It is all
just hot air.

Let us all recommit
ourselves afresh and anew to God, this coming year and ask Him to have His way
in our churches rather than our
own way.

Try missing a meal now
and then each week, which is called a chosen fast. It brings the power of the Holy
Spirit up in us, when the body is afflicted. As we put the body under
subjection, the Spirit rises up within us. We replace the meal time with that time
alone in prayer, and seeking God. It will bring amazing benefits in our walk
with God...the old-timers knew that. When individuals get "on fire" for God, the
CHURCH catches fire, as we bring it with us into the services.

In fact, we have thrown
the baby out with the bath water, when we left some of those old time ways. I
believe in progress, and am aware that we live in a different generation and
culture...however, many pastors have replaced some of the basic Biblical
teachings, with feel-good messages, in order to build up church attendance. We
have to update the old methods without doing away with the proven principles of
worship, service, seeking God with a whole heart, and just plain LIVING like a
Christian!

We leaders have to get
back to the old-fashioned preaching about sin. Not only to bring sinners unto
repentance and then into salvation, but to get the Bride ready for the soon
coming of our LORD!

"Please help us Lord
Jesus, to be found faithful, and not ashamed at Your appearing, by returning
unto us the FIRE of the Holy Spirit, and the JOY of our salvation" is my prayer
for 2008...Another New Beginning...Amen!

Pastor Moser
January, 2008

W. O. W.

There is so much world in
the church and so much church in the world, that it is hard to tell the
difference!

The Pastor's Desk

Re: Previous Website

The Home Place Mission had a former site and the time came where we had to switch web site hosts. Our email had to be changed as well. In transferring the articles over, every effort was made to correct any inferences to the old email address (the new one is on the home page). Also, all articles containing hyper links were needing updated too. Please forgive us if some things may have been overlooked. Because this page is in a blog format, the date we transferred each article over is what shows under the title when opened. The correct date each article was written is beside the title under the category column. We apologize for the blog format, as it is not as "user-friendly" as our old site but we do hope you find the articles encouraging and are blessed by the insights shared! Thank you for reading!